TV and radio host Fearne Cotton has made the shock discovery that her Welsh great-grandfather refused to fight during the Great War.

Evan Meredith was imprisoned for being a conscientious objector during World War I and the star found herself in his prison cell as she discovered more about her ancestor for the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?

The square box cell where coal miner Evan Meredith, from Bedwellty, was incarcerated would have contained just a tiny stone bed.

The 23-year-old went on hunger strike - and four days later he was a free man, along with his fellow prisoners who’d refused to fight.

Radio 1 presenter Fearne says: “He must have gone to hell and back but he got through it.

Inside her Welsh great-grandfather's prison cell in Carmarthen

“He didn’t want to be there anymore so he led a hunger strike and it worked. He freed all the men. That was really brave and amazing. It could have ended up going really badly.

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“It was eerie knowing that’s where he ended up. Seeing the cells that the men there stayed in in awful circumstances they were living in made it very real.”

Fearne, 35, admits the discovery came as a shock, and left her feeling confused.

'I'm confused and sad'

“I really respect that his beliefs were so strong for him and that he honoured them constantly and he knew the ramifications and went with it. I also respect his belief in not wanting to kill an innocent man because he didn’t believe in the war.

“But then I’m equally confused and sad... millions of people did die. It’s obviously an omnipresent thought in my head when I’m thinking about it. I massively respect him but with a huge morbid knowledge of how many people did lose their lives. It’s a huge, huge shame.”

Evan Meredith

Evan, who was Fearne’s great-grandfather on her dad’s side, was a coal miner from the age of 13, a job that was considered vital to the war effort when it broke out in 1914. This meant it was deemed a reserved occupation, so they continued with their jobs.

Fearne explains: “He had been working down the pits for years, dealing with all sorts of injuries and having to do amputations down there because he was a medic.”

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But as the war continued and the need for men at the front became more desperate, there was a ‘comb out’ - meaning thousands of men were taken out of the coalmines and called up.

When conscription was introduced in Britain in 1916, 16,000 men refused to serve.

'I can't comprehend it'

Fearne discovered that Evan was one of those who refused, so was arrested and taken to Brecon Barracks, before being sentenced to six months imprisonment in Wormwood Scrubs Prison in London.

She says: “It was a shock because I had no idea about that. I had no idea at all. My dad didn’t even know so it was a shock to him.”

Visiting his cell, Fearne acknowledged the stark contrast between it and the “fortunate” life she leads. “I can’t even comprehend it,” she says. “It would be insane for me to even try to imagine that I would know what that feels like.”

And she realises the implications of his refusal to sign up were wider than just Evan.

Fearne Cotton visited her Welsh great-granfather's prison cell

Fearne says: “I’m sure his parents were worried sick about him and it probably cast a bit of shadow socially on their family in their local area because he was in the minority.

“I’m sure it was very difficult for all involved. The ramifications rippled out to all family members.”

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Fearne learns after his sentence ended in December 1918 - after the war was over - he was re-arrested and taken back to Wales to face another court martial, where he was sentenced to a year’s hard labour in a prison in Carmarthen.

He was temporarily discharged, following his hunger strike, in the summer of 1919, months before his sentence was supposed to end.

It seems Evan was not re-arrested and went on to study to become a pharmacist, later being awarded a Fellowship of the Pharmaceutical Society.

Her voice filling with pride, Fearne says: “He got himself him out of there and started up a really amazing life for himself afterwards because of his strength and determination.”

Fearne’s Who Do You Think You Are? episode airs on BBC1 on Thursday, August 24